


Brothers

by PSIDontKnow



Category: Final Fantasy III
Genre: Gen, Mostly Luneth and Arc, Platonic OTP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 21:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2483258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PSIDontKnow/pseuds/PSIDontKnow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you're going down <br/>then we'll all go<br/>as brothers</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_\---[First year_  
They're orphans, left alone and lonely, all four of them are. There's scraps and bruises and seeing which one of them can tug on Cid's beard when he's not looking and which one of them whines loudest about food and their parents, whose fate has not been told to them. As much as Cid would like to keep them to himself, he can't keep them in Canaan, it's the type of town to talk if one old airship pilot returns with four young children.  
He travels to the nearest towns he can, leaving the first with the Saronian knights, who often do take in orphans whose parents have been killed by circumstance or animal. Almost all of the knights are orphans and they vow to take good care of him. Cid ruffles blonde hair and smiles at the squeak of indignation, giving a last word to make sure that someone makes sure he keeps the green pendant his mother wore.  
He leaves the lone girl with a smith in the next town, handing her off with a smile and a laugh with an old friend, passing him a chipped white earring before leaving again. There's only one town left, where he can leave the youngest boy and then he can just take the other back. It's a good town for him, sleepy and quiet, not much traffic up this way. It's easy enough to pass off the boy, teary eyed, to the elder, the other boy clutching to Cid's side as he tells them goodbye and hands the boy a tattered, yellow scarf.  
There's a shriek, causing everyone involved to jump, the little silver haired boy running back to the brunette and sticking his tongue out.  
That was the end of discussion.

 _\---[Second Year_  
They sleep in the same bed, until they can get another one, which will take time and money for Topapa and Nina. Neither of them mind, especially not on nights when there's thunder storms and not a speck of light beyond the thunder. The events of the previous year are almost entirely forgotten, all question of when are their parents coming back dissolved into the spring air.  
There's still faint memories of black clouds, and fear, and something failing loudly, so they cling to each other and try not to cry.

 _\---[Fifth Year_  
Nina is Luneth's Mom and Topapa his Gramps.  
They are Nina and Elder Topapa to Arc, The boy loathe to call them anything improper. He actually doesn't call them anything around Luneth, to spar the other's feelings. He's never thought of them as his parents, that's still a hole they can't quite fill, there's this feeling in his heart that all of this is terribly frail, that it'll change in a moment's notice, so he stays close and learns all he can. While Luneth runs around and plays at Warrior with the other children, Arc finds a nice niche to hide in from them and read.  
Luneth is his brother though, he's the one that protects Arc and lets him curl up with him when the thunder gets too close.  
It's a spot all his own.

 _\---[Sixth Year_  
He'd messed up, he'd messed up _so bad._  
It was just supposed to be an adventure, just Arc and Luneth, and maybe they'd find a bit of mythril and bring it back for Mom and Gramps. He hadn't expected to come across a Goblin, especially not one with a poison knife. They'd been fast enough to run away, but not before it had made a swing, slicing across Arc's back. The cut itself is shallow, but the brunette had collapsed as soon as they had stopped running, breathing labored and simple tunic stained red.  
It had taken some doing between the two of them, Luneth trying not to panic and Arc's limbs lead heavy, but they manage to get him on the elder boy's back.  
"Okay, let's get you back home and then we can have all the candy we want." Luneth whispers, hooking his arms under Arc's legs as Arc wraps his arms loosely around his neck. He's panicking the whole way home, worrying, fretting, what will happen if his little brother dies because he wanted an adventure?  
"I'm sorry Luneth." Arcs words are whispered out, almost buried in his gasping breaths before he starts crying, and Luneth picks up the pace.  
"Why? Don't be sorry, I'm the one that got you into this mess." The older laughs merrily, practically running back home, ignoring the tears tracking down his face as his brother continues to apologize. They make it back in time, Luneth barelling into the elder temple without so much a word of explanation and dropping Arc off his back into the water. Theres splutters, the smaller boy splashing up out of the shallow water before Luneth's hugging him and laughing, tears tracking down his face.  
He doesn't take Arc on adventures after that.

 _\---[Ninth Year_  
They've grown as much apart as they will, Luneth running through the forests and felling monsters with a knife, helping in smaller hunts for food and Arc staying home, learning everything the Elders have to teach, priming the brunette to take their place one day. They don't see much of each other during the day, unless they find one another and decide to stick together. Night is still theirs, or had been until recently.  
Gone are the midnight stories of adventure and myths, gone the shared secrets, there's just a back pressed against another in a bed they've almost outgrown and the feeling of missing something.

 _\---[Tenth Year_  
They're warriors of the light.  
It's an amazing thing, to be someone so important, to make new friends and family this way. Despite the grief and horror they've faced, none of them would change it for the world. There's warm nights of staying up to play games from their childhood and cold nights of curling up into a warm pile together, forcing Ingus to lay with the three of them and laughing when they succeed.  
There's days of adventure and days of exploring, the sea calling to them and, later, the skies. There's days of disagreement, when Luneth almost punches Ingus off the boat and Refia has to seperate them by smacking them with a staff and there's days when they're sure they won't make it. Arc tentivly holds Refia after Desch jumps into the Tower of Owen and he reassures Ingus that Sarah is okay when they leave the continent. He holds Luneth's hand and asks if he's okay when Aria dies.  
He pulls him aside when he lies that he is and makes sure that he will be.  
There's days when Arc has no idea what he's doing, when he just drops to the floor and cries, because none of this is okay, it really isn't, they're all just kids. Those are the days when Ingus mans the ship and Refia holds one hand while Luneth wraps himself around the brunette like when they were little, and makes stupid noises until Arc can't stop laughing to breath.  
They become a family, unseperable by anything, and they help so many people. Arc's heart is about to beat out of his chest as he walks into the mirror with the help of five pure hearts, his pinky wrapped around Luneth's discreetly until Xande rises. He's easily defeated and they're all relieved until they hear that horrible voice, voices, too many things over lapped into one.  
He watches his family die.  
Poison eating away at Refia until she falls, twitching, to the ground.  
Ingus falling in a bolt of lightning, smoke whisping from his body.  
Luneth jumping in front of him to keep him from the same bolt of lightning.  
He's left standing alone against the Cloud of Darkness, staff dropping from his hands to the ground by Luneth's body a moment before something cuts through his side.  
......

  
 _\---[Tenth Year **}One More Chance{**_  
They're given another chance by Doga and Unei, brought back to life, and they are checked out by their friends, Alus practically tackling Arc, Sarah leaping into Ingus's arms while Desch picks up Refia to make sure she's okay. Cid talks to Luneth quietly before the warrior moves back over by his brother, locking pinkies once again and not showing that there's still a humming pain in his back that he's sure no potion or cure will get rid of.  
They dive into the World of Darkness.  
They almost can't believe it when they win.  
Almost.

 _\---[Eleventh Year_  
Arc's twitchy, ready to leave at a moment's notice. Wanderlust as been eating at him since they got back to Ur and he wants to leave again, to not be confined to the small village and who he had been before the Crystals, he wants to learn more, learn all he can.  
He also wants to run away.  
The burn across his ribs still smarts if he moves the wrong way, as he knows Luneth's back does, and guilt stabs through him each time he gets even a glimpse of the scar from pushing Arc out of the Lightning. It makes Arc want to run away, and so, he packs his bags and does one night. Nautelaus is still parked between them and Ingus, only an afternoon's jourany hasted, to where any of the four could use it if they need to.  
Before Arc can even get out of the village, there's a pair of long legs matching his stride, silver hair glinting in the moonlight.  
"So, where are we going?"

 _\---[Fourteenth year._  
They meet her by chance, by the river bank, and she offers to make them something splended for Orichalcum. Luneth hops on the idea immediantly, giving her the items and watching as she does....something to forge it without a forge. Arc watches her though, brows furrowed as he takes in the silver hair and sharp, brown eyes, and the way she seemed unsurprised at Luneth's appearance and the resemblance between the two.  
They part ways with a new sword for Luneth and a theory that makes them both look for her furiously, unable to ever find the smith again.

 _\---[Twentieth year_  
He's alone for right now, nothing but a stack of books from Doga's and a moogle next to him that insisted on watching over them. His hair's gotten longer, held back from his face with a Ribbon and hair clips, Crystal Earrings in his ears. He knows that soon there will be more here, Desch with food and Sarah with gifts. He's not seen anyone in years, after a small mishap with a stop spell, and it's wonderful when he sees them again, Refia's hair cut short, a Ribbon tied into bow on top of her head, Ingus in full Sasunian Red Mage garb.  
He's almost ready to jump off the floating continent before Luneth shows up, worry for his brother choking him.  
"Sorry I'm late!" Is the only warning he gets before there's a full grown man launching himself at the slender mage, knocking him over with a laugh. There's no armor on Luneth (this time) but there is a broadsword strapped to his back, smacking painfully against his legs.  
"Get off me you loon!" Arc laughs, whacking Luneth in the shoulder playfully before shoving him into the grass. Everyone's laughing too, and neither of the brothers can wipe the grins off their faces.  
 _"Welcome back, brother."_


	2. Epilogue

**_\---[???? Year_**  
They all wonder why there's a boy as young as him on the field, he knows it, but they think he's alone. He's not, not ever.  
 _{What do you think about the Mannikins?}_  
 _[That they're a pain in the ass?]_  
 _(They need to be stopped.)_  
 _|How? More show up as soon as we cut them down!|_  
Onion Knight watches them argue, three boys and a girl that he can tell the others can't see, not when they tell him to stop staring into space or stop talking to himself. He's not sure who they are, or if they know who they are, they hardly ever respond to him.  
 _{Cloud's leaving.}_  
 _(He often does, he's a moody individual.)_  
 _[Reminds me of you with the Chocobo butt hair.]_  
Onion knight subconsciously raises his hand to his hair as the blond spirit does with a noise of insult. It's often like this and he marches on, deciding to follow the girl instead.  
 _(Protect her, keep her safe.)_  
 _[Not ever again, don't let that happen again.]_  
He saves her from the mannikans.  
He can't save her from the Cloud.  
 _{Not again, not ever again, go after it! It will not take ours from us again!}_  
 _[...]_  
 _(...)_  
 _|I'm with him, you two were already down last time, but I was still alive, even if I wasn't moving, I saw the final blow hit all of you.|_  
They whisper and cajol him, telling him which Jobs to use when and leaving him to his own fears when they argue. He's alone though, alone after he loses Terra and is called an Imitation Hero, and he's scared they're not real.  
 _[You can do it, you can.]_  
 _|Believe, you are The Warrior '00 00000'|_  
He wonders if he'll ever know what she says there, when she calls him a Warrior.  
 _(Look at our Crystal!)_  
 _[It's just the same as when I found it!]_  
 _|I've missed it...|_  
 _{We're going home!}_  
 ** _"We're going home!"_**


End file.
